Will You Catch Me Now?
by alex-in-w0nderland
Summary: In the Clock Tower: Heights had never been a problem for Gwen. She would sit on the fire escape, twenty stories above the ground, without a care in the world, just staring down and enjoying the breeze. But this. This was different. She could faintly hear Peter's scream, but the blood was pounding too loudly in her ears and her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach.


**Will You Catch Me Now?: Chapter I**

Word Count: 4,031  


**Author's Note:** This starts when she was falling through the Clock tower but continues long after, Enjoy!

* * *

Falling.

Heights had never been a problem for Gwen. She would sit on the fire escape, twenty stories above the ground, without a care in the world, just staring down and enjoying the breeze. But this. This was different.

This didn't feel like a roller coaster. It wasn't exhilarating or a calming height. It was terrifying. She could faintly hear the colliding of gears and scraping metal next to hear ears. She could faintly hear Peter's scream, but the blood was pounding too loudly in her ears and her heart dropped into the pit of her stomach. The outline of Peter's red suit started to grow farther away. She could tell he jumped after her.

She didn't want him to. She wanted to yell at him and hit him for being an idiot and risking his life for her, but she was in no position to do that. She could see the webbing that was unraveling at the seams as it raced against gravity and speed to catch her. Against all the force pressing her body downward, Gwen reached her arm out, she wanted to grab onto him and hope to God he was okay.

She could feel herself being yanked to a stop. How couldn't she? The blinding pain shooting up and down her right arm would make any sane person cry. But Gwen wasn't exactly in the most sane place right now. Her eyes were practically glued to her eyelids, because she was honestly scared that if she tried to open them she wouldn't be able to.

Peter had never felt fear like that in his life. When the webbing caught up to her.. Relieved would be an understatement. Swinging down, he saw her right shoulder blade was badly dislocated and that there was a slight gash on her leg where a metal scrap had caught her skin. But she was breathing. His love was handing literally by a thread, an inch or two off of the concrete. Half a second later would have been too late.

"Gwen?" He whispered, taking his mask off and tracing a finger over her cheekbone. Peter's tears were making trails down his dirt covered face but he couldn't be bothered to wipe them away. He cut her down from the webbing, gently holding her as he did and laid he limp body in his lap. He could hear a faint whimper escape from her lips when he moved her arm.

"Gwen?" He asked again, kissing her cheek softy, "just open your eyes, please." He tried to keep the worry from seeping into his voice as much as he could manage. She didn't open her eyes. She definitely didn't have enough energy to do that.

Parting her lips slightly she managed to speak, in a quick sigh almost, "home", her voice was barley audible but the deafening silence around them seemed to make her weak voice echo. Peter sighed in relief, kissing her head and running his fingers gently through her hair.

"Okay love, I'll take you home." He wasn't going to swing home. No way in hell was he going to chance that. With Harry escaped and her being hurt he had to be as careful as possible. He slipped his mask on and stood up, the small blonde girl clutched carefully in his arms. He cradled her head in his hand as he walked, trying to limit how much it moved. She had clutched her arms into her stomach and Peter winced as he saw her right one. There was already swelling and bruising around the dislocated and broken joints.

I'm sorry Gwen, I can't take you home just yet. He sighed inwardly. If she remembered that she told him she wanted to go home, she was going to give him hell. And to think, Peter actually grinned at the thought of her yelling at him. She would be awake that way.

The streets were littered with cars that people had abandoned, or were forced to evacuate and most of the people were gone, half probably already in the hospital. The nearest hospital was on the same block as the clock tower, so that was pretty lucky.

When he walked in the light nearly blinded him, people were rushing around like a mad house. The hospital smell filled his lungs making him cough. When people started noticing the costume, the volume of the emergency room seemed to decrease and the amount of stares he got sky rocketed.

"Excuse me?" He asked the nurse, speaking loudly in an attempt to get her attention. The nurse looked up but was too shocked to find the words. "She needs help. Urgently." He told her.

"Just- Just set her in the third exam room down hallway B", she told him. Any other person she would have told to get in line, but obviously he got special treatment. Walking past all the injured people fueled his anger towards Oscorp. He didn't know who else to blame besides himself and that selfish company.

When Peter got to the room they directed him too, he laid Gwen down on the white, slightly uncomfortable hospital sheets. When he saw her eyelids move he lowered the lighting in the room, figuring it would make it easier for her eyes to adjust to less intense light.

A few minutes seemed to feel like a life time to him, but after a few minutes Gwen opened her eyes and he could see her glassy green eyes. Her pupils were dilated and he silently prayed it was a reaction to the light and not head trauma. He knelt down next to her and grasped her good hand in between both of his.

Gwen managed to push a small smile onto her face, "hi." She mumbled to her worried boyfriend. Before he could say anything back, a loud gasp came from the door way and they both turned to see Aunt May with a terrified expression on her face.

"Gwen?! Honey what happened?!" She rushed to Gwen's side, while completely ignoring the fact that Spider-Man was in fact standing in Gwen's hospital room. Gwen softly moaned in pain, as Aunt May touched her shoulder. "I am going to run and get you a doctor." Aunt May told them and quickly disappeared into the hallway.

Peter leaned down to kiss her forehead through his mask and she automatically leaned into his touch, making her hiss in pain. "I'm going to run and change. I'll be back in two minutes." If not sooner. He added silently and she nodded. He walked swiftly through the white walls until he passed through the waiting room and was finally out on the streets.

Gwen had never been in the much pain and she didn't dare look at her wounds. She felt like she was too weak to lift an arm or move a finger at least and she just wanted to sleep it off. Just as she was about to drift off Aunt May rushed in with a middle aged man with a white coat and a stethoscope thrown around his neck.

"No sweetie don't fall asleep! We have to make sure you don't have a concussion!" She scolded her kindly and Gwen gave a small nod, fighting to keep her eyes open. As the man dragged a light in front of her eyes he told her she didn't have a concussion and that once they got her fixed up she would be free to sleep as much as she would like.

Much to her annoyance they rolled her immediately to the X-ray rooms when they noticed her arm. She groaned when the lights came back on in the small room.

"Well, there are no broken bones where your shoulder is concerned, but it is dislocated. Your wrist has four small fractures and another right below your elbow joint, so you will need to wear a cast and sling for a few months." He told her with a feeble attempt of a smile. Gwen nodded, her throat was dry and she could barely speak.

"Can I go back to my room and wait for Peter? I called him before we came in. He should be here by now." She asked, turning her attention towards Aunt May who nodded and rolled her out of the room without another word.

When they rolled her bed back into the room she saw Peter with his head in his hands, slumped in the guest chair. But when he heard the noise, he had jumped to his feet in an instant, kissing her as quickly as he could.

"I'm fine," she told him before he could even ask. He nodded and held her hand tightly in his as the doctor and Aunt May left.

She could see the trails that his tears had left on his face, his eyes were bloodshot and glassy as well. Gwen sighed and attempted to smudge off a bit of dirt that stained his cheekbone, but he turned to kiss the inside of her palm.

"You almost died." Peter stated, trying to forget the image of her falling, even though he knew it would be forever branded in his mind.

She looked him in the eye and whispered, "but I didn't." Just trying to make him understand that he had saved her.

"Gwen you almost did. I can't just ignore that.." Peter trailed off, avoiding her piercing green eyes, because if he looked at her he knew he wouldn't stay strong. "I don't want to upset you." He took her hand in his, rubbing the pad of his thumb across her smooth skin, "but I think your father was right. I can't put you in danger like that." When he finished speaking he could feel the lump in his throat. He was determined to stay away from her this time.

Gwen was too shocked to speak, "are we.. are we breaking up?" She asked tentatively. No no no, this can't be happening. Please don't leave me again. Her thoughts clouding her mind. He still wouldn't look at her but he nodded.

"I just want to protect you." He told her honestly, practically begging her to understand. This would have been so much easier if she had blamed him for her fall. It would have been easier for her to hate him. To never want to see him again. But the thing that made it difficult was that they were both in love and neither was willing to let go. Peter replayed the scene in his mind, over, and over again. Trying to remind himself that this was the right thing to do. Even though it felt horribly wrong.

Gwen could feel the tears dripping down her chin and she didn't dare trust her voice to speak. She grasped his hand tightly in hers, trying to make him stay, but he escaped her grasp easily and kissed her on the forehead. "I love you." He told her, "I am going to call your parents, okay?" She nodded weakly in acknowledgment, leaning into his lips as they left her forehead.

She watched him walk out of her hospital room without a glance backward. Her chest felt like it was ripped in two as she struggled to breathe against her anxiety attack. Gwen eventually calmed herself enough to fall asleep, maybe to convince her that everything that just happened had been a dream.

* * *

Weeks later Peter was still in his room, only leaving as Spider-Man when he had to. He kept tabs on Gwen once in a while. She had decided to stay in the city instead of taking the scholarship in England but Peter couldn't tell you why. He just hoped that he wasn't the reason. Why was she putting her entire life on hold?

Every day seemed to be more difficult for him to keep his distance. He fantasized about holding her and no matter what he did he could never push away the feeling that his arms felt empty without her in them. His bed felt different too. She had been spending the night more often and vice versa. But he never slept on the side she liked better. It felt too cold to him.

Everyone seemed to tell him that it was just a high school romance, and that he'd get over it in no time. But he was damn sure what they had was love. Not the sweetheart relationship that teachers make fun of. It was real and it hurt like crazy not to feel the same.

Swinging by her fire escape was a huge mistake on his part. It was past two in the morning and Gwen was still awake. Her lights and T.V. were on and there were papers surrounding her. College applications probably.

Being this close to her made that same warm feeling take over Peter's stomach, making the cold wind barely noticeable. Her arm was still in a sling and her hair was sloppily pulled back into a pony tail. He frowned slightly when he noticed the dark circles under her eyes, and she looked even paler than the last time he saw her.

Gwen jumped from her bed, making papers and pens fly onto the floor. She grabbed the lighter off of her desk and with shaky hands, opened her desk drawer, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. Peter's eyes widened. When the hell had she started smoking. Trying to balance a lighter and cigarette with a broken hand was starting to frustrate her.

When she went to open her window, Peter moved to the side, hoping the darkness would camouflage him so that she wouldn't see him.. and she didn't.. But he noticed the tears leaking from her eyes as she blew out a puff of smoke. Gwen pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and just stared at it. It was the same picture he had framed on the side of his bed of them kissing. She wanted to rip it in half and throw it into the wind but she couldn't bring herself to do it.

Instead she crumpled it up and shoved it in her pocket. When Gwen put her cigarette out and closed her window, Peter let out a sigh of relief. He wanted to talk to her, but knowing how both of them felt.. It wouldn't end well.

* * *

Another month had passed and Gwen's shoulder had healed completely. She didn't have to use a sling anymore but her wrist was still healing so she still had a white cast up to her elbow. She had started taking walks through the city in an attempt to clear her head. But, night or day, it didn't matter. Her thoughts were always the same.

She tried to ignore the 'breaking news' about Spider-Man's scarce appearances, but it seemed like everyone was fixated on just that alone. Peter would still show up in emergencies to help the police. But he wouldn't spend nights hunting down drug dealers and petty little things like that. He wanted to stay off the radar, mostly in hopes to keep Gwen off of it as well.

Around her, people started screaming and running in all different directions. She turned her head so many times and so quickly that she wouldn't be surprised if she had given herself whiplash.

She felt the air leave her lungs as something hit her hard in the back. The loud noise of the engine and wind filled her eardrums and made it even harder for her to focus on what had happened. She could feel something sharp digging into her side. Gwen caught a glimpse of their reflection off the near top stories of the Oscorp tower and turned her head to see Harry Osborn holding her hundreds of feet in the air.

"Harry? What are you doing?!" She shouted over the roar of the engine but he just grinned back at her, completely ignoring her question as he broke the glass wall of the tower and flew inside, throwing her onto the ground like she weighed nothing.

Landing in a pile of broken glass would have been painful enough without him throwing her into it. She saw him step off of his glider and lean down so he was eye level with Peter Parker's love. Harry grabbed a chunk of her blonde hair and pulled her to her feet.

"It seems... Peter has almost.. Given up being Spider-Man", Harry told her, backing her into a solid wall, and pressing a knife to her neck. Gwen could feel her heart pounding in her ears as she whimpered involuntarily in pain.

"I- I guess so?" She stated, eying the knife that was pressed against her jugular vein, trying desperately not to panic. But there was a goddamn knife pressed against her by someone who had tried to kill her! How could she not panic!?

Harry just chuckled and tightened the grip on her hair, hitting her head against the wall slightly as he did.

"So. Gwen." He said her name in a way that made her skin crawl in disgust. "I am going to need you to tell me where he is." He didn't know where Peter is. She thought to herself, quite relieved that he was safe for now.

"I-I don't know." But that was obviously not that answer he wanted to hear.

"Liar!" He yelled, making her flinch under his grasp. Harry threw the small girl into the center of the room, making her crash into the office desk. When she rolled onto her back she saw Harry's menacing eyes staring at her. He wrapped his hand around her neck and trailed the tip of the knife along her stomach. She tried to scream as the blade cut lightly into her skin. But it was muffled by the hand that was squeezing her windpipe.

She clawed at his hand, trying to gasp for air and he just laughed at her. But, he caved and loosened his grip enough for her to breathe in small puffs.

"Please, Harry. I don't know where he is. We broke up. He moved." She told him, trying to catch her breath in between words. The last part had been a lie and she mentally crossed her fingers that it sounded convincing.

He chuckled and pressed the knife deeper into her skin, making her whimper. "You know Gwen," he began, whispering against her ear, "you aren't supposed to be alive." He smiled when he heard her breath quicken in fear. "In fact, when I threw you down the clock tower, I was quite sure you would have died. Maybe then I'd be even with Peter. Don't you think it's only fair if I take something from him, like he did me?"

Gwen squeezed her eyes shut, "we broke up. Months ago. He doesn't want he just as much as I don't want him. You'd be taking nothing from him by killing me." She told him, trying to make her voice sound strong.

"We both know he is fixated on you. But. If not you, who should I take hm?" He dug the knife into her skin, making her scream. "Aunt May?" He pulled the knife down towards the hem of her pants. Grinning as she writhed in pain underneath him. "Because, it seems like you two are the only one's he has left."

"Leave his Aunt alone." She stammered, trying her best to stay conscious as the pain made her entire body feel numb. She wanted to slap that smug grin right off of his face, but she was in no position to.

"Don't you want to live Gwen?" He asked but she wouldn't respond. He growled at the lack of reaction he was getting and pulled the bloody knife out of her body. "Tell me where he is!" He screamed at her but she didn't respond. Kicking her in the stomach bored him quickly as she still wouldn't speak. He lifted her off the ground by the collar of her jacket. "Fine, not gonna talk?" He asked and she weakly shook her head as a no. "Fine." He told her once again and tossed her out of the top floor window of Oscorp tower.

In many ways the fall felt way too familiar. Only this time she was staring at the sky, she couldn't help squinting as she fell. It felt different because this time she wasn't expecting Peter to save her. He had no reason to believe she was in trouble. Gwen's mind seemed to slow everything down as the sounds of traffic and screaming pedestrians grew closer. Squeezing her eyes closed, she prepared herself as much as she mentally could for her collision with the ground.

But the only collision felt came the side, and she could feel the wind suddenly pushing her in a different direction. An arm was wrapped securely around her waist and she could feel the "lift and fall" affect of Peter's webbing. Every time he swung them he would have to shoot another web, and each time she felt her heart drop to her stomach as they fell once again.

She forced herself to open her eyes, only to see him staring at her through his mask. "Thanks for the save." She said teasingly, but her words got lost in the wind.

"Just keep your eyes open! We're almost home!" He shouted so she could hear him clearly and she nodded against his chest. When they finally stopped moving she noticed they were in Peter's room. Before she could say anything he picked her up quickly and laid her on his bed, rolling her shirt up to the underwire of her bra to assess her wound, without a word.

She could hear him mumbling profanities under his breath as he raided his drawers for a first aid kit. Gwen didn't want to say anything, but she did anyway. "I'm fine Peter." And that caught his undivided attention.

"Fine?!" He practically growled, clenching his jaw tightly. "You are not fucking fine, Gwen!" He yelled, making her flinch, but he was too angry to apologize. He knew he was scaring her. But he was so mad at himself. With her or not she was still getting hurt! There was no way he could win.

He finished getting a first aid kit together and knelt back at her side. After dressing her wound and sewing it shut, he trailed his fingers gently down the side of her face.

"I'm sorry for scaring you." He said sincerely and she nodded, her eyelids fluttering shut against his gentle touch.

"I love you." She told him quietly almost not expecting him to hear her, but he mumbled the same three words back and kissed her forehead, telling her it was okay for her to sleep now. That she was safe. Gwen would have forced him to hold her if she hadn't been in so much pain.

All scenarios considered, she did not think this was the way they would meet again.

* * *

**Author's Note**: In all honesty I will probably continue this fic because I sorta have an idea on where I was to go from here, but, you never know. This could be how it ends. I know I've probably beaten this topic to death but please don't hate me, I just love the idea of them getting back together because they love each other too much to stay apart. Thanks for reading! Love you all!


End file.
